Scott Krokoff confesses his struggles with the music industry in "Almost There"

Scott Krokoff

With a rich sound drawn primarily from his love of 60s and 70s music, New Yorker Scott Krokoff (pron: Crow-Cough) weaves elements of folk rock & country pop into confessional and compelling Americana. He is an evocative and introspective songwriter with a style that is reminiscent of Tom Petty and James Taylor and a voice that sounds like a mix of Jackson Browne and Steve Winwood. Scott has opened for Elle King, and in addition to being a regular performer in the NYC scene he has also performed live throughout Europe. Scott is a prolific writer and is known for crafting "graceful tales of morality and perseverance" (The Vinyl District) with relatable themes and "melodies that’ll have you humming for days" (Nooga). To date, Scott has released 3 albums and several singles, including four singles with over 100,000 streams on Spotify.  PopWrapped calls Scott "an artist to watch" and Music Crowns calls one of Scott’s latest releases – 2022’s Fortunately – "a song you’ll want to hold your loved ones close to, and find harmony with one another while swaying along to the music".

In addition to his musical endeavors, Scott is also a practicing lawyer with a young family and is adamant that, while maintaining that work-life balance, one should never put a shelf life on his or her dreams. As such, many of Scott’s songs document this pursuit and his passion to persevere with his music, and the importance of taking risks in life as well as the consequences of not taking them. Scott maintains an active social presence particularly on Instagram (over 15,000 followers) where Scott can be seen every Monday at 2pm ET at @scottkrokoffmusic performing his well-received One Up One Down One Cover livestream. Scott also co-hosts (with his good friend, Jeff Jacobs) The Writer’s Room, a curated songwriter showcase in NYC.

People of all ages have found Scott’s music appealing and inspirational, relating to his music not only because of the terrific rhythm and energy each song possesses but because he represents the desire we each have to dream big and live life to the fullest.

As I explained in the article I wrote one year ago about Scott (that happens to be also the very first article I've ever written on this blog! You can find it here), he is the very first indie musician I got to know online and probably the one that made click in my brain the interest and love for indie music, especially folk and americana. The elements that I love most about his music are the honesty and vulnerability he's not afraid to show in his lyrics. His songs are a series of open windows on his most secret feelings - the feelings that we all have deep in our hearts but that sometimes we are too proud or ashamed to admit. His brutal honesty manifests for example in "Something I'd like to know" about introvertness, "Scared Little Boy" about fears, "Far Too Many Times" about falling again and again in negative thoughts, and many others. His latest release "Almost There" makes no exception to this, showing up the frustrating feeling of always arriving "almost there, but never quite" at our goals. I had the honour to draw the cover artwork for this single - Scott showed me the idea of the endless staircase and I found it a perfect representation of the meaning of the song, trying to picture it as much "haunting" and dark as possible.

About the song, Scott shares: "It’s a song that sums up all my struggles in the music business, and it’s probably one of the most honest and confessional songs I have ever written. Succeeding in music is a very high bar. You need to be consistently outstanding, and even if you are, there’s still no guarantee of success. And no matter what, it feels like a slow, never-ending climb with a million steps and full of gatekeepers who say no. For those reasons, you feel like you’re almost there but never quite there. I explore all of that in this song and also analogize it to athletes who have a similar struggle as the bar for success is equally high for them, and the lyric video takes a more light-hearted turn on it all".

"Almost There"

Motivated by ambition and unrelenting drive

Doing everything I can to keep my dream alive

But there's been no validation and I only feel deprived

I'm almost there yet never quite

I've seen it in the distance, I've seen the end in sight

Stays within my vision when I go to bed at night

But when I get up in the morning it is gone and that's my plight

I'm almost there yet never quite

Like the skier in the slalom who missed the final gate

being left to think if life is truly fair

Like the swimmer in the last lap who touched the wall too late

I'm almost there yet never quite

Almost there and yet not quite ever there

To get to where you want to is a neverending race

You put in all this effort just to barely keep the pace

and every time I see a doorway it gets slammed in my face

I'm almost there yet never quite

For all the steps I've taken there's a million more to go

For all the progress that I've made it's going real slow

For I depend on some gatekeeper who's always saying no

I'm almost there yet never quite

I made a lot of strides but it never seems to be

enough to really turn the tide, a harsh reality

and if that becomes my epitaph what a real tragedy

to be almost there, yet never quite

Scott Krokoff

Instagram: @scottkrokoffmusic

Facebook: @scottkrokoffmusic

Website: www.scottkrokoff.com

Spotify: Scott Krokoff